12: Asa Wolf
G
arroch
walked slowly across the compound, cold and yawning. The brushwood fire was now only a flattened heap of white ashes. It was hard to believe that the Corn Festival had come and gone. Then he saw the ragged bundle of straw that had been the Corn Hag and, a few yards away from it, the white body of Grunter, lolling among the stones.
Garroch turned his head away and walked on to Marrag’s house, wondering whether his women had got back yet. He did not expect they would have done so; they would make the best of the opportunity, he thought. It would be another year before it happened again. He could think of them without any love or jealousy, for they did not mean much to him. He could get a woman somewhere else, anywhere, they were easy to get—but hard to look after on
